CSSB 16(RLS): "An Act regarding oil discharge prevention and cleanup involving self-propelled nontank vessels exceeding 400 gross registered tonnage and railroad tank cars and related facilities and operations and requiring preparation and implementation of oil discharge contingency plans for those nontank vessels and railroad tank cars; amending the definition of 'response action' that relates to releases or threatened releases of oil and thereby amending the duties and liabilities of response action contractors; authorizing compliance verification for nontank vessels and for trains and related facilities and operations; and providing for an effective date."
00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 16(RLS) 01 "An Act regarding oil discharge prevention and cleanup involving self-propelled 02 nontank vessels exceeding 400 gross registered tonnage and railroad tank cars and 03 related facilities and operations and requiring preparation and implementation of oil 04 discharge contingency plans for those nontank vessels and railroad tank cars; amending 05 the definition of 'response action' that relates to releases or threatened releases of oil and 06 thereby amending the duties and liabilities of response action contractors; authorizing 07 compliance verification for nontank vessels and for trains and related facilities and 08 operations; and providing for an effective date." 09 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 10 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 11 to read: 12 INTENT. It is the intent of the legislature that the report of the Task Force on
01 Motorized Oil Transport (sec. 5, ch. 128, SLA 2000), the documents the task force used in 02 preparing the report, and the transcripts of the task force meetings be used by the Department 03 of Environmental Conservation as the guidelines for drafting regulations to implement this 04 legislation. 05 * Sec. 2. AS 46.03.825(a) is amended to read: 06 (a) A response action contractor who responds to a release or threatened 07 release of oil is not civilly liable for removal costs or damages that result from an act 08 or omission in the course of providing care, assistance, or advice 09 (1) consistent with a contingency plan 10 (A) approved under AS 46.04.030 or 46.04.055 if the response 11 action contractor is listed in the contingency plan; or 12 (B) prepared under AS 46.04.200, 46.04.210, or 33 U.S.C. 13 1321(d) if the response action contractor is not listed in the contingency plan; 14 or 15 (2) as otherwise directed by the federal or state on-scene coordinator. 16 * Sec. 3. AS 46.03.825(b) is amended to read: 17 (b) The limitation on liability contained in (a) of this section does not apply to 18 (1) an action for personal injury or death or; 19 (2) a response action contractor who 20 (A) would otherwise have been liable for the release or 21 threatened release under AS 46.03.822; 22 (B) acts with gross negligence or intentional misconduct; or 23 (C) has agreed in writing to be listed as a primary response 24 action contractor, who is listed as a primary response action contractor in a 25 contingency plan approved under AS 46.04.030 or 46.04.055, and who fails to 26 respond to a release or threatened release of oil that the primary response 27 action contractor was required to respond to under its contract with the 28 applicable contingency plan holder; this subparagraph does not apply to a 29 primary response action contractor if the failure to respond to a release or 30 threatened release of oil results from a prior and ongoing response under 31 another contingency plan approved under AS 46.04.030 or 46.04.055 in which
01 the primary response action contractor has the primary duty to respond and a 02 significant portion of the response action contractor's oil spill cleanup 03 equipment listed in the contingency plan approved under AS 46.04.030 or 04 46.04.055 is in use. 05 * Sec. 4. AS 46.03.825(f) is amended to read: 06 (f) Nothing in this section is intended to amend AS 46.04.030(l) or 46.04.055, 07 or to create a cleanup or performance standard that must be met by a holder of a 08 contingency plan or by a primary response action contractor. 09 * Sec. 5. AS 46.03.825(g)(3) is amended to read: 10 (3) "response action" means an action taken to respond to a release or 11 threatened release of oil, including mitigation, clean up, marine salvage, incident 12 management team services, response plan facilitator services, or removal of a 13 release or threatened release of oil. 14 * Sec. 6. AS 46.04.055(a) is amended to read: 15 (a) A person may not operate [CAUSE OR PERMIT THE OPERATION OF] 16 a nontank vessel within the waters of the state or cause or permit the transfer of oil to 17 or from a nontank vessel unless the person has furnished to the department and the 18 department has approved proof of financial ability to respond to damages meeting the 19 requirements of AS 46.04.040. Proof of financial responsibility required under this 20 subsection is subject to adjustment of dollar amounts under AS 46.04.045 and is 21 established, for a nontank vessel that carries 22 (1) predominantly persistent product, at $300 per incident for each 23 barrel of oil storage capacity on the vessel or $5,000,000, whichever is greater; and 24 (2) predominantly nonpersistent product, at $100 per incident for each 25 barrel of oil storage capacity on the vessel or $1,000,000, whichever is greater. 26 * Sec. 7. AS 46.04.055(e) is amended to read: 27 (e) The requirements of [(a) - (d) OF] this section do not apply to a nontank 28 vessel operating in the waters of the state if the nontank vessel 29 (1) is engaged in innocent passage; for purposes of this paragraph, a 30 nontank vessel is engaged in innocent passage if its operation in state waters, 31 irrespective of whether it is a United States or foreign-flag vessel, would constitute
01 innocent passage under the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous 02 Zone, April 29, 1958, 15 U.S.T. 1606, or the United Nations Convention on the Law 03 of the Sea 1982, December 10, 1982, U.N. Publication No. E 83.V.5, 21 I.L.M. 1261 04 (1982), were the vessel a foreign-flag vessel; 05 (2) enters state waters because of imminent danger to the crew, or in an 06 effort to prevent an oil spill or other harm to public safety or the environment, and are 07 inapplicable only until the vessel is able to leave state waters as soon as it may do so 08 without imminent risk of harm to the crew, public safety, or the environment; or 09 (3) enters state waters after the United States Coast Guard has 10 determined that the vessel is in distress, and are inapplicable only until the vessel is 11 able to leave state waters as soon as it may do so without imminent risk of harm to the 12 crew, public safety, or the environment. 13 * Sec. 8. AS 46.04.055 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 14 (f) On and after the date that is 180 days after the effective date of the 15 regulations initially adopted by the department under (l) of this section to implement 16 the requirements of this subsection and (g) and (h) of this section, a person may not 17 operate a nontank vessel within the waters of the state or cause or permit the transfer 18 of oil to or from a nontank vessel unless the department has approved an oil discharge 19 prevention and contingency plan covering that nontank vessel and the person is in 20 compliance with the plan. 21 (g) The oil discharge prevention and contingency plan for a nontank vessel 22 required by (f) of this section must include 23 (1) vessel-specific information; 24 (2) a response plan consisting of 25 (A) initial notification procedures; 26 (B) a certification that the applicant for the nontank vessel 27 contingency plan is a member of, or has a contract with, an oil spill response 28 organization that is an oil spill primary response action contractor with a 29 response action plan approved by the department as meeting the response 30 planning standards of (c)(1) of this section for the maximum oil capacity of the 31 nontank vessel; and
01 (C) a certification that the applicant for the nontank vessel 02 contingency plan has contracted with an oil spill primary response action 03 contractor providing incident management team services; and 04 (3) a prevention plan certification stating that the nontank vessel for 05 which contingency plan approval is made complies with applicable federal and 06 International Maritime Organization requirements. 07 (h) In lieu of the requirements 08 (1) of (g)(2)(B) of this section, a person may comply with the 09 requirement of (g)(2)(B) of this section by demonstrating, to the satisfaction of the 10 department, that the person is maintaining an oil spill response plan and equivalent 11 equipment, personnel, and resources to enable the person to meet the requirements of 12 this section; and 13 (2) of (g)(2)(C) of this section, a person may comply with the 14 requirement of (g)(2)(C) of this section by demonstrating, to the satisfaction of the 15 department, that the person is maintaining an incident management team in order to 16 implement a planned response to a release or threatened release of oil from its nontank 17 vessel. 18 (i) The provisions of AS 46.04.030(d) - (l), (n), (o), and (r) apply to a nontank 19 vessel, to a nontank vessel contingency plan required by this section, and to a person 20 applying for and holding an approved nontank vessel contingency plan. 21 (j) On and after the date that is 180 days after the effective date of the 22 regulations initially adopted by the department under (l) of this section to implement 23 the requirements of this subsection, a person may not transport oil by railroad tank car 24 or cause or permit the transfer of oil to or from a railroad tank car unless the 25 department has approved an oil discharge prevention and contingency plan covering 26 the transportation of oil by railroad tank cars by the railroad and the person is in 27 compliance with the plan. 28 (k) The provisions of AS 46.04.030(d) - (l), (n), (o), and (r) apply to a railroad 29 tank car, to a railroad tank car contingency plan required by this section, and to a 30 person applying for and holding an approved railroad tank car contingency plan. 31 (l) The department shall adopt regulations under AS 46.04.070 to implement
01 (1) the requirements of response planning standards under (c) of this 02 section; 03 (2) the requirements of (f) - (i) of this section as applicable to nontank 04 vessels; and 05 (3) the requirements of (j) and (k) of this section as applicable to 06 railroad tank cars. 07 * Sec. 9. AS 46.04 is amended by adding a new section to read: 08 Sec. 46.04.065. Compliance verification for nontank vessels and for trains 09 and related facilities and operations. In addition to other rights of access or 10 examination conferred upon the department by law or otherwise, to ensure compliance 11 with the provisions of this chapter relating to oil pollution control, the department may 12 at reasonable times and in a safe manner enter and examine 13 (1) nontank vessels; and 14 (2) trains, railroad tracks, associated facilities, and railroad operations. 15 * Sec. 10. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 16 read: 17 CERTIFICATION OF EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS. The lieutenant 18 governor shall certify to the revisor of statutes 19 (1) the effective date of the regulations initially adopted by the Department of 20 Environmental Conservation under AS 46.04.055(l), added by sec. 8 of this Act, to implement 21 the requirements of AS 46.04.055(f) - (i), added by sec. 8 of this Act, as applicable to nontank 22 vessels; and 23 (2) the effective date of the regulations initially adopted by the Department of 24 Environmental Conservation under AS 46.04.055(l), added by sec. 8 of this Act, to implement 25 the requirements of AS 46.04.055(j) and (k), added by sec. 8 of this Act, as applicable to 26 railroad tank cars. 27 * Sec. 11. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).